Seventh Stop: Glacier National Park (with a stop at Devil's Tower)
(After Custer, we stopped in Billings, Montana for two nights to visit amazing friends. Hey, Puccis! And on their recommendation, we added a stop to our itinerary to see Devils Tower. It made for a long driving day - two hours to Devils Tower, an hour to visit the area, and four hours to Glacier - but it was worth it. Think Close Encounters of the Third Kind and that pile of mashed potatoes! The real thing is definitely cooler.)
We finally made it to the apex of our cross-country adventure -
Glacier National Park.
Prior to our trip and to learn more about the national park that spreads 1,013,322 acres across Montana, I joined a Facebook group -
Friends of Glacier National Park. I noticed a trend in posts with people describing the experience of visiting Glacier as “magical,” and “life-changing.” Honestly, it seemed a little much. And then we started driving the Going to Sun Road on the eastern side of Glacier and I quickly understood. As soon as we came upon St. Mary Lake, we were all gasping at the unbelievable views. The crystal blue waters and rocky peaks of red and brown were almost shocking against the landscape. Even the area, which suffered a fire in 2015, was incredible with rosy-colored, skinny tree trunks shooting up from new growth.
And this was how our drive went for the next hour…slow-moving vehicles, gasping at the next incredible view, and pulling over to try and capture that view which was never as good as the real thing.
Going to the Sun Road is the only road that crosses Glacier National Park. It’s about 50 miles one way but can take up to two hours to drive because of the slow speed and drivers who are, frankly, scared shitless.
The road’s highest point is at Logan Pass with an elevation of 6,646 feet. Driving from the east side up, the road seems perfectly doable, until you reach Logan Pass. Suddenly, any inch of grass or gravel on the side of the road that usually provides one with a feeling of security is gone. Drivers are forced to maneuver the two-lane road with either a cliff face uncomfortably close on one side or a sheer drop-off on the other.
Since we were driving east to west, we had the cliff face which I considered the better of two choices. But I was still panicking, hands sweating, heart racing, and I wasn’t even driving. My husband slowly drove attempting to keep our giant truck from scraping the rocky barrier which I was sure would start a chain reaction of frantic drivers plunging over the edge. He pulled over at the first place to do so and turned the truck around.
On that first day, we started one hike that ran along St. Mary Lake but only made it halfway because the younger son’s boots were rubbing. I was glad we left when we did. What happened next was the highlight of our entire trip.
As we drove back to our camper, we saw a line of cars pulled over. We joined them assuming it was something interesting. It was a little more than just "interesting." A mother grizzly bear and her cub were snacking on berry bushes right by the road.
A grizzly bear!!! A friggin’ grizzly bear! Suddenly, my investment in a new, much stronger telephoto lens was totally worth it.
TIP #1 - WHEN YOU SEE A GROUP OF CARS PULLED OVER WITH PEOPLE POINTING, JOIN THEM. IT’S PROBABLY SOMETHING GOOD.
We climbed on top of our truck, invited a few strangers in the bed of the truck for a better view and watched the amazingness that is a grizzly sighting. A park ranger kept everyone safely back while my younger son, at my urging, clapped a few times to get mama bear’s attention for a photo. It worked. I know, I know, it probably wasn’t the smartest decision but it was a friggin’ grizzly bear!
The next day, I took the truck out by myself and headed back to the same spot. I saw three black bears in different locations. Next tip…
TIP#2 - THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE GOING TO SUN ROAD HAS BERRY BUSHES NEAR THE ENTRANCE WHICH ATTRACT BEARS. GO LATE IN THE AFTERNOON OR AT DUSK TO SEE A BEAR...OR THREE.
The next tip about Glacier is up for debate. Which side is better? Where do you stay? We took the advice of our seasoned traveler friend (hey, Whitney!) and booked sites on both sides of the park. We started on the east side at
Johnson’s of St. Mary Campground.
The campground lacked the amenities of the bigger places but you couldn’t beat the view. We were on top of a mountain overlooking St. Mary Lake. The views were stunning.
The only downside - the wind was horrendous. Our last night there, the wind was so strong that our camper shook and rattled which was not a pleasant feeling for a girl raised in Mississippi tornado territory. I was ready to assume the tornado safety pose we did in school hallways. It was insane! (The wind did knock over a small tree on our neighbor’s RV. Scary stuff.)
Our second day in Glacier we headed to the
Many Glacier area. At the entrance we encountered our first minor setback - roadwork.
TIP #3 ALWAYS CHECK ON ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND TRAIL CLOSINGS IN THE PARK. (Even though that area of Many Glacier was closing for the season in a few days, paving work had started which meant traffic was one-way and drivers waited 20-40 minutes to pass. It was worth it that day but kept us from returning.)
We decided to do the Apikatuni hike up to a waterfall. It was only 1.5 miles but the entire hike was a climb. I knew about the climb from online trail reviews which also described recent grizzly sitings. As any smart mom knows, I kept this information to myself and simply told the family it was a little over a mile. Easy peasy. They could be pissed at me later.
Once they saw the falls, they forgot all about the climb. Moms know best! (We also had two cans of bear spray, a must when hiking in Glacier.)
TIP #4 - ALWAYS HIKE WITH BEAR SPRAY. YOU’LL PROBABLY NEVER NEED IT BUT IF YOU DO, YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU HAVE IT. IT CAN BE BOUGHT OR RENTED AT LOCAL STORES.
On our third day on the east side, I decided to do a hike by myself - a well-trafficked hike so I would never really be alone. Sadly and thankfully, the hike I was hoping for was closed due to a mother grizzly and her cubs in the area.
Since my husband had dropped me off at Logan Pass for the hour, I decided to try another hike nearby - the Highland Trail hike. Mistake. Big, big mistake.
This trail is stunning and hugs the cliff above the Going to the Sun Road. It’s a skinny, rocky trail with ropes bolted to the rocks to help hikers in perilous areas. When I reached the ropes, I realized I’d greatly underestimated what I considered my small fear of heights.
After walking partially on the trail with a firm, sweaty grip on the rope and staring down hikers coming toward me who were hoping I’d let go of the rope so they could pass, I finally gave up. My legs were weak from fright and I was very close to dropping on all fours and crawling back out. I quickly bonded with hikers going in the opposite direction who were just as scared as I was and also refusing to remove their hand from the rope so I could pass. We settled on a weird “body smush/hand swap” move to awkwardly change places. We might be married now or one of us is pregnant. We were that close.
The next day, my family and I moved to
West Glacier RV campground on the western side of the park. The new campground is part of West Glacier Village which includes paved bike trails to the village, mini golf, a restaurant, tiny grocery store and souvenir shop. All expensive but cute.
We spent the next few days exploring nearby Whitefish, Montana, and hanging out at the campground. We did a bike ride to Lake McDonald and drove the western side of the Going to the Sun Road. While also amazingly gorgeous, I felt like the west side lacked that shock and awe factor around every turn that the east side offers.
After soaking up every bit of the Glacier scenery, we knew it was time to head south and begin making our way to Las Vegas where we’ll end the first leg of this adventure. But more on that later. For now, we were headed to the potato state.
Next stop…
Idaho Falls, Idaho.